Alex Murdaugh.Photo: Richland County Jail
Jailed attorney Alex Murdaugh is facing 27 new counts after a South Carolina state grand jury indicted him for an alleged $4.8 million in financial crimes including stealing funds from victims and clients and money laundering, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Friday.
The indictments can be readhere,here,here,here, andhere, according to the release.
“Altogether, Murdaugh is charged with respect to alleged schemes to defraud victims and thereafter launder $4,853,488.09,” the press release says.
Murdaugh is accused of misappropriating $3.4 million in Beaufort County, which correlates with the amount of money he allegedly bilked from the estate of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield,The Statereports.
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“This doesn’t appear to add anything new to the case other than additional charges,” Jim Griffin, one of Murdaugh’s lawyers, toldThe State.
“Attorney General Wilson would also like to acknowledge the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” the release says.
Shocking New Allegations
Murdaugh remains jailed for allegedly hiring a distant cousin and former client to shoot him in the head on Sept. 4 and making it look like a suicide so his surviving son could collect $10 million in life insurance money.
Curtis Smith, 61, who allegedly helped Murdaugh in the scheme, is also facing criminal charges from the botched suicide-for-hire plot.
Alex Murdaugh, Curtis Edward Smith.Facebook; Colleton County Sheriff’s Office/AP/Shutterstock
He has denied shooting Murdaugh.
NowThe StateandIsland Packetnewspapers both report that Murdaugh allegedly paid Smith $155,970 over six months, from October 2020 to May 2021, according to copies of the checks and bank documents.
Murdaugh allegedly paid Smith with 17 separate cashier’s checks.
Smith has denied receiving any money from Murdaugh,The Statereports.
Tangled Web
The once-prominent attorney made headlines in June when he found his wife and son shot to death on their rural Low Country estate.
From left, Buster Murdaugh, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, Paul Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook
No suspects have been arrested. Murdaugh is a person of interest in the case.
In September, he was arrested and charged after saying he was shot in the alleged suicide-for-hire scheme to defraud an insurance company.
After a stint in rehab for what his lawyer said was an opioid addiction, he was taken into custody and remains held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on criminal charges.
source: people.com
